This might be it, folks. The point of no return for us Coloradans to turn the tides to save our last, best ecosystems on public lands from industrial-scale extraction, degradation, and ultimately destruction.

If more of us chip in—even just a tiny bit—we can start turning this around, no question in my mind. In fact, we’ve already been making a ton of progress behind the scenes, including:

-Encouraging U.S. Senator Bennet to vote against the Orwellian “Fix Our Forests” Act.

-Proposing statewide legislation to reroute taxpayer funding of logging towards home hardening to actually protect communities from wildfire.

-Getting a number of media outlets to cover threats to public lands in an increasingly balanced and science-based way, including Colorado Public Radio.

-Partnering with large, influential conservation groups in the state to speak out against public lands logging.

-Soliciting scores of public comments to the U.S. Forest Service to oppose the newest, biggest logging project in Colorado history.

-Pressuring local land management agencies to change some of their rhetoric and scale back some of their plans.

-Waking up more and more Coloradans every day (in-person and online) to the fact that we cannot protect our public lands by destroying them.

But if we don’t keep up the push, I promise you it’s only going to get worse, and we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Forest Service proposed what is now the largest public land logging scheme of the century (and possibly history) in Colorado, “Pike’s Peak Vegetation Management,”194,567 acres of industrial logging—13,500 acres within four protected Roadless Areas—and  244,210 acres of toxic herbicide spraying in the Pike and San Isabel National Forests in El Paso, Teller, and Douglas Counties.

The federal land management agency appears to have been emboldened by a multi-year corporate media blackout across Colorado on what, up to this point, were successively the three largest logging projects in state history, to propose a fourth, even larger and more destructive one with the public kept almost completely in the dark. 

Currently, these “Big Four” schemes would log almost a half-million acres (474,872) of National Forests along nearly the entire length of Colorado’s Front Range in seven counties, including 61,439 acres across seventeen Roadless Areas. All projects contain clearcutting, as well as logging in endangered species habitat and old-growth forests, such as ancient bristlecone pine.

I’ve been doing this work for over twenty years across the West, and I’ve never seen such a threat to biodiversity, watersheds, and climate in our country as what’s happening right now in Colorado. It’s literally keeping me up at night. We do have a solution, but we’re going to need all hands on deck to make it happen.

Sadly, this isn’t just about the Trump Administration and its land mismanagement agencies’ onslaught, which, yes, is the worst we’ve seen. It’s also about how nearly all elected officials, most corporate media, and even some conservation groups in the “Blue state” of Colorado are not just ignoring the most apocalyptic public lands scheme ever, they’re promoting it.

These days when I wake up in the morning a stick’s throw away from the Roosevelt National Forest, I feel like Alice fallen down the rabbit hole. I almost can’t believe that so many of our decisionmakers, gatekeepers, and residents who choose to live in one of the most beautiful states in the U.S.—thanks to its public land!—have, at best, completely turned a blind eye to the unprecedented threat, or, at worst, have become fully fledged members of what I can’t help but call the Clearcut Cult.

This leaves mostly grassroots advocates like Eco-Integrity Alliance and the other small handful of conservation groups fighting in the trenches for public land ecosystems, wildlife, watersheds, and climate. And, more importantly, folks like you.

We need you now like never before. And unlike other orgs you’ve heard from recently, I’m not going to spend more than this sentence asking for any financial support (you think I have time for fundraising with all this going down right now?). Far more important than money, I’m asking for a tiny bit of your time and energy, your commitment and dedication.

I understand if you’re overwhelmed. So are we. So is everybody. And if you choose to sit this out, I’ll understand.

But I want you to know that grassroots advocacy has immense power if enough of us exercise it…but only if. And that a choice to shrug this off might mean the point of no return for our public lands in Colorado, the West, the entire U.S. and, as they export these unchallenged schemes overseas, the world. So, please choose wisely.

What I’m asking from you is 30-minutes per month (or, if that’s too much, 30-minutes every season or three months) to take a short and easy action so we can return grassroots environmental organizing and genuine participatory democracy to Colorado.

If you want to be on the email list for monthly 30-minute actions, please reply to this email with “Trunk” in the subject. If you want to be on the email list for seasonal 30-minute actions, please reply with “Branch.” No one expects anyone to take these actions every email, but it helps to know who is open to engaging so we can focus on the people truly willing to fight for our land.

Here in Colorado and across much of the U.S., Eco-Integrity Alliance is building an exciting new organizing model based on a foundation of what’s tried and true, strategic and successful. If we can raise more of a groundswell, we can finally embark on a new, positive vision for our last, best ecosystems on public lands across our state and country.

But it can only happen with more of you exercising your democratic rights as co-custodians of public lands. Will you join us (or stay with us, for those who are already here) so we can start really turning things around?

We literally—and I’m not just saying this—cannot do this without you.

Over the last year alone, thanks to your help, Eco-Integrity Alliance and our partners and allies here in Colorado have educated hundreds of thousands of people, shifted the votes of elected officials, scaled back the schemes of land management agencies, and are now on the verge of introducing new legislation. But we can only keep making this progress—and expanding it exponentially—with your support. We hope we can count on you!

For the Forest,

Josh Schlossberg

Colorado Advocate, Eco-Integrity Alliance